First of all can I just say that I have no idea how this works. Mary Anderson is a Reiki healer who works at The Rainbow Healing Centre at the back of The Blackrock Market.

Mary is a very warm and capable American woman who has been a registered nurse for 26 years in Nashville, Tennessee. She trained at home to become a Reiki Master in 2004–2005 and came to practise Reiki in Ireland 18 months ago.

The room is very comfortable and Mary puts on some relaxing music. As I lay down on the couch, I relax as she begins the ‘dousing’ of my seven chakras by swinging an old-fashioned pendulum in circles over me.

By the motion of this pendulum she can tell if the particular chakra is open or closed, or indeed half-open, and this tells her where the work is needed.

She begins to work over me, and I can feel her ‘moving air’ (or energy) over me in strong movements and I begin to relax further. Only rarely does she actually touch the body during a session.

In theory, Reiki is a non-harmful energetic therapy where the healer acts as a channel for universal life force energy. Immediately I can feel this energy as a kind of downward streaming occurring from my middle which feels like a speeded-up movement or shaking of my cells, and almost as if they are changing places.

This also feels like detoxification as I begin to get a taste in my mouth. I must admit I was a little alarmed by the intensity of this energy. She tells me I seem to be particularly responsive to this kind of treatment.

I asked her if she suffers what the client might be suffering? She says “No. The point is I can be in your energy, but I can’t be you.” However, she says she has experienced muscle spasms and even crying as she expels ‘older’ energies. “As I’m working, I can feel different as I’m passing over the parts of your body. In particular, I can feel a difference in the energy from one spot to another, and if it’s a heavier energy, I move it.”

The session ends and I feel very satisfied, and flushed all over my body and my face has a very high colour. There is no doubt that some work has been done.

When I ask her if the session will have a lasting effect, she says “Yes. I hope so. I provide the energy. What happens next is what you do with it.” I also have a feeling that she is especially gifted. She says “No. This is a part of all of us. I believe we all have these abilities. It’s just how in tune with them we are.”

At the end, Mary emphasizes that what she does is complementary (not an alternative) therapy to Western medicine, and could never replace primary care or the power of prescribed drugs that the client may be taking for medical conditions or complaints. What she does works hand-in-hand with conventional medicine and may enhance its effectiveness.

Mary Anderson sits on the committee of the Reiki Federation of Ireland and herself trains students of Reiki. She also does vocal coaching as she is a singer/songwriter of Country and Western music.

Mary is currently working on a study of how Complementary Health can help affect weight loss.

For an appointment, her mobile telephone number: 085-775-0599.

What is Reiki? (pronounced ray-key)

The word Reiki comes from two Japanese words, Rei and Ki.

Rei may be interpreted as supernatural knowledge or spiritual consciousness. This is the Wisdom that comes from God or the Higher Self. This Wisdom knows the cause of all problems and how to heal them.
Ki is the life force, the non-physical energy that animates all living things. Reiki may, therefore, be defined as spiritually guided life force energy.

A Reiki healer acts as a channel between the Wisdom and the patient. The healer has no influence on the degree of healing but simply facilitates the flow of energy to where it is best needed.

This is something similar to the healer being a telephone line between the patient and the patient’s higher self.